The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-06-04
ON THE HEIGHTS.
A Royal Highway Out from the
Great Caucasus.
The Finest Mountain Road In the World
A Terrible Am~phitheater, 1900
Feet Above Kszbek-Fr0m
Europe to Aala.

The highway from vladi-K avkas
through the Caucasus was built by the
Car in 1859, and it is said to be the
finest mountain road in the world. 1t
Is so wide that two p%ost-wagons, drawn
by four horses abreast, can pass at full
speed at any place by night or day.
The macadam road-bed is graded like
= railway, and its surface is as large as
the b%oulevards Of Paris. 1t was by
ihis celebrated military thoroughfare
that we entered the Darrell Pass. The
horses dashed around u bend in the
road, and suddenly stopped before a
post-station. These government houses,
which are well-constructed Of cut
stone, with sheet-iron roofs painted
green, have been built from eight to
fifteen miles apart along the entire
route through the Caucasus. Horses,
wagons and drivers are changed at
every station, unless the traveller is
fortunate enough to own his vehi-
Gle; then only a change of horses and
driver is necessary. The toll for trans.
portation is one and a half cents n
verst-a distance of about two-thirds
of a mile. Each passenger is supposed
&c have a permit, or way-bill, from the
government, which he must show in
addition to his regular passport. This
imperial order for horses is supposed
to enable one to travel with little de-
lay; but the post-makcrs along the
route always make it a point to COM
pei one to wait as long as possible,
and unless liberal fees are given one
may be detained two or three days at a
station. We had travelled but ten
miles, yet the character Of the spring.
less vehicle was such that we felt as il
we had been pounded by machinery.
Ar officer Of the government who was
travelling with us ordered fresh horses
harncssed at once, and in a few mo-
ments their steel shoes were ringing on
the road.
The scenery grew rapidly holder,
and mountains that seemed lofty but
half an hour before sank out of sight
rs we assembled the canon. In places
the roadway vas a mere groove cut in
the sides of appalling precipices, with
the river breaking into foam a thou
sand feet below. As our horses gal.
Hoped around one of these buttresses n
mighty amphitheater opened directly
before us, on one side of which q little
notch was seen midway between the
river and the heavens. 1t was the road.
Looking across the measurcless abyss,
we saw a caravan of freight wagons
toiling up this channel, chisclcd in the
side Of the mountain. All the artillery
wagons and the great siegc-guns that
Numbered against Kars and the heights
of Soubatan passed over this road.
More than two thousand vehicles were
moving between Vladi-Kavkas and
Alexandropol. They stopped for
nothing but %avalanches and
dead horses; neither dark.
ness nor storm delayed their prog
ress. Some were loaded with powder
and shells; Others carried clothing and
medical supplies. But none Of these
great wagons nor swiftly running post
horses impeded us. The magnificent
mountain boulevard over which we
were travelling was often broad enough
for three teams to pass. Sometimes,
however, a line Of two-wheeled Asiatic
carts drawn by bullocks refused TO
yield the customary share Of the road.
and as the post-wagons swept by them
the Tartar drivers dashed the Arabs In
fAs lace with their Cossack whips and